Med student (embarrassingly) makes The New York Times

Have you ever watched something on television and said to yourself, “I want to try that”?

If that show happens to be “Flying Wild Alaska” and the thing you want to try is an emergency landing of a plane, Vox would highly recommend not doing it. Unfortunately, Georgetown University Medical Center student Jason Maloney seems to disagree with that advice.

When flying near Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY, on Monday evening, one of Maloney’s passengers became ill. Rather than having them become sick on the plane and waiting to land at their destination, Maloney made a request to the air traffic controller to land on the beach.

After being told that a beach landing could only be made in an emergency, Maloney can be heard on the air traffic recording saying, “You know, tower, my engine might be running a little, teensy, teensy bit rough. A little teensy bit rough.”

After Maloney declared an emergency and stated that he would be landing on the beach, the air traffic controller sent police emergency crews to the site where the plane landed. A passenger was throwing up near the plane as the police arrived.

Maloney, who made a successful emergency landing, seemed to still not understand how unorthodox his behavior was.

“What’s the big deal?,” he told the police. “It happens all the time in Alaska.”

He could lose his license, but my bet is he gets fined, albeit heavily.

Apparently he was just rushed to the hospital for seizures back home today.

[Comment edited for crude language]

And this is why Georgetown doesn’t even own the University Hospital anymore. They keep letting in idiots like this. You should spend a few days with those medical students. I wouldn’t trust them with my dog.

It does look bad on the surface but lets not judge when we arent inside this situation and understand what happened. Also if you feel that you need to judge Georgetown based on an incident like this then clearly no one values your opinion. Georgetown is still a well respected school and hospital. Check the match list.

EMBARRASSINGLY?! uhhhhh this dude fucked with air traffic control, landed on a completely random beach in new york, then when cops came running and panting for the “emergency” response, the dude hops out of his field plane, throws off the aviator shades, and puts on a shit-eating grin with “What seems to be the problem officers? Oh, landing a plane on a fucking beach? Happens all the time in ALASKA.”

Actually, I have heard that he was a first year student who could not hack it and had to leave when anatomy started. I have no idea why he would still be calling himself a student. Hopefully the school doesn’t let him back in.

Actually, GW is not a level I trauma center. Level I status is granted to hospitals by the American College of Surgeons based on a multitude of factors. Currently, the District only has 2 ACS-certified Level I trauma centers: Washington Hospital Center, for adult patients, and Children’s National Medical Center (right next door to WHC) for pediatric trauma patients.

In a regionalized system like the one that exists here in DC/MD/VA, hospitals cannot afford to do all things well. They each choose to specialize in certain areas and devote more resources to those activities. Georgetown, GW, WHC, and the rest all have their positives and negatives.

Then someone should tell them to stop claiming they’re a level 1 trauma center. From their website:

“The Emergency Department at The George Washington University Hospital plays an essential role in caring for the urgent health needs of the District of Columbia. The department cares for more than 45,000 patients each year including serious injuries as a Level 1 Trauma Center.”

I think this guy had to have been drunk or high to do what he did, no one in their right mine would reason that landing on a public beach in the middle of the night would be ok. What exactly did he plan on doing with the plane once it landed? Taking off again from the beach??

ACS may designate trauma centers, but the only designation that matters is the one given by the state and the criteria it has. That ACS website list you gave was missing New York and Maryland – New York doesn’t have a level 1 trauma center? No way.

As a doctor and pilot myself, I think it’s quite clear that this individual is not fit for either profession. It seems like his pilot’s license could be revoked as a result of his stunts and shockingly poor judgment, and hopefully his foolishness has also steered him off course to enter the field of medicine. He is clearly an irresponsible individual, and based on his behavior I would be surprised if he was not on drugs.

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